Issue |
EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol.
Volume 3, 2017
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 11 | |
Number of page(s) | 17 | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/epjn/2017002 | |
Published online | 03 April 2017 |
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjn/2017002
Regular Article
State of the art on nuclear heating measurement methods and expected improvements in zero power research reactors
CEA, DEN/DER/SPEx, Centre de Cadarache,
F-13108
Saint-Paul-lez-Durance Cedex, France
⁎ e-mail: mael.leguillou@gmail.com
Received:
9
September
2016
Received in final form:
15
December
2016
Accepted:
25
January
2017
Published online: 3 April 2017
The paper focuses on the recent methodological advances suitable for nuclear heating measurements in zero power research reactors. This bibliographical work is part of an experimental approach currently in progress at CEA Cadarache, aiming at optimizing photon heating measurements in low-power research reactors. It provides an overview of the application fields of the most widely used detectors, namely thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) and optically stimulated luminescent dosimeters. Starting from the methodology currently implemented at CEA, the expected improvements relate to the experimental determination of the neutron component, which is a key point conditioning the accuracy of photon heating measurements in mixed n–γ field. A recently developed methodology based on the use of 7Li and 6Li-enriched TLDs, precalibrated both in photon and neutron fields, is a promising approach to deconvolute the two components of nuclear heating. We also investigate the different methods of optical fiber dosimetry, with a view to assess the feasibility of online photon heating measurements, whose primary benefit is to overcome constraints related to the withdrawal of dosimeters from the reactor immediately after irradiation. Moreover, a fibered setup could allow measuring the instantaneous dose rate during irradiation, as well as the delayed photon dose after reactor shutdown. Some insights from potential further developments are given. Obviously, any improvement of the technique has to lead to a measurement uncertainty at least equal to that of the currently used methodology (∼5% at 1σ).
© M. Le Guillou et al., published by EDP Sciences, 2017
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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